telecoms package

Revision of the "telecoms package" directives

War on Access

Submitted on 2 May 2010 - 22:51

By Jérémie Zimmermann.

“Article 11 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789 proclaims : "The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious rights of man. Every citizen may thus speak, write and publish freely, except when such freedom is misused in cases determined by Law". In the current state of the means of communication and given the generalized development of public online communication services and the importance of the latter for the participation in democracy and the expression of ideas and opinions, this right implies freedom to access such services. ” - Conseil Constitutionnel, decision 2009-580 (§ 12)

Viviane Reding - Openness, inter-operability and neutrality

Submitted on 31 Dec 2009 - 20:49

« Indeed, the architectural principles that underlie the Internet we have today, namely the principles of openness, inter-operability and neutrality do not only create an environment that enables innovation in services and applications, more importantly they allow for an environment where users can express themselves freely without discrimination by their service provider. Therefore, those basic design principles need to be preserved. »

Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and the Media - February 3rd 2009

The Commission can accept this amendment (138)

Submitted on 31 Dec 2009 - 20:07

« As already stated on 6 October, the Commission can accept this amendment (138), which was voted by a nine-tenths majority in the European Parliament plenary (MEMO/08/681). The Commission considers this amendment to be an important restatement of key legal principles of the Community legal order, especially of citizens' fundamental rights.

Sarkozy and the Wild Web

Submitted on 31 Dec 2009 - 18:02

« It was extremely helpful in raising awareness to have President Sarkozy say the Internet is not the Wild West and that ISPs must take steps in connection with piracy. That has been the catalyst for other governments to look at this more closely. »

Jo Oliver, in charge of the IFPI's litigation activities - NYtimes.com, april 13th, 2008

Flog ‘em and hang ‘em’ brigade

Submitted on 31 Dec 2009 - 17:57

« Well, according to an expert in the specialised area that is European politics, this amendment could be significant and might spike the guns of the pro-copyright “flog ‘em and hang ‘em’ brigade (now led by French President, Nicolas Sarkozy) »

telecomtv.com - april 2008

Banning people from printing books

Submitted on 31 Dec 2009 - 17:55

« It's a breach of our civil liberties, when government limits access to the Internet it's like limiting freedom of speech. It's like banning people from printing books. »

Christofer Fjellner, Swedish legislator in the European Parliament who sponsored the banning of the "graduated response" in an adopted amendment.

Bono Amendment

Submitted on 31 Dec 2009 - 17:45

« Calls on the Commission and the Member States to recognise that the Internet is a vast platform for cultural expression, access to knowledge, and democratic participation in European creativity, bringing generations together through the information society; calls on the Commission and the Member States, therefore, to avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of Internet access. »

Ask what the next European Commission will do for our Freedoms!

Submitted on 26 Nov 2009 - 14:26

Paris, November 26th 2009 - La Quadrature is calling on European citizens to submit questions aimed at finding out where the next European Commission (2010-2014) stands on EU citizens' fundamental freedoms on the Internet.

The Council of the European Union and the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, just agreed1 on a college of Commissioners designate. The Parliament will now conduct hearings2 before appointing the full college.

  • 1. http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/522&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr
  • 2. More infos about the Commissionners hearings: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Hearings_Commissioners

Telecoms Package: A Missed Opportunity for Citizen's Rights

Submitted on 24 Nov 2009 - 10:12

Paris, November 24th, 2009 - There is no reason to celebrate the general outcome of the Telecoms Package. The final text voted today is far from satisfactory: while it includes some consumer protections, they fall short of compensating for the various loopholes and threats to fundamental rights contained in the rest of the text.

Europe only goes half-way in protecting Internet rights.

Submitted on 5 Nov 2009 - 09:19

Brussels, November 5th, 2009 - An agreement has been reached on the Telecoms Package. The new text1 aimed at protecting Internet access includes positive elements such as a reference to the right to a "prior fair and impartial procedure" as well as the presumption of innocence. It also contains ambiguous language and potential loopholes. This rather unambitious provision will now be up for interpretation, and it remains to be seen whether it will invalidate Net access restrictions such as "three strikes" policies.

Will the EP turns its back on Internet rights?

Submitted on 4 Nov 2009 - 08:36

Brussels, November 4th 2009 - On the eve of a crucial conciliation meeting that will decide on the fate of the "Telecoms Package", the European Parliament must decide whether it will keep its promise to protect citizens rights online. Will the European Parliament send a dangerous message to Member States by assenting to extrajudicial restrictions of Internet access? Should fundamental rights be sacrificed in an attempt to finish Telecoms Package at any cost?

Amendment 138 - Legalese for Progress, not political weakness

Submitted on 4 Nov 2009 - 08:03

Tonight, a conciliation committee meeting will take place between the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament. Both institutions will try to resolve their year-long dispute over amendment 138 by considering a worthless compromise proposal.

In the past days, some Members of the Parliament have been convinced to depart from the strong protection for the freedom of expression and communication granted by amendment 138. They bought the arguments put forward by the Council, as well as the Parliament's own legal services who conducted a biased analysis at the request of rapporteurs Catherine Trautmann and Alejo Vidal-Quadras. According to amendment 138 opponents, the European treaties do not allow the Parliament to require that Member States adapt their judicial system to better protect European citizens. However, case law seems to indicate that this is just an abusive argument aimed at concealing their political timidity.

Amendment 138, provides that “no restriction may be imposed on the fundamental rights and freedoms of end-users, without a prior ruling by the judicial authorities”.

"Three strikes" in Europe, on Wednesday?

Submitted on 2 Nov 2009 - 01:38

Paris, November 2nd, 2009 - The negotiations on the Telecoms Package might come to a close on Wednesday. The Council of the European Union is still pushing for "three strikes" policies in Europe but is also attempting to allow private corporations to restrict citizens' Internet access. Will the European Parliament continue to hide behind a disputable legal argumentation provided by the rapporteur Catherine Trautmann, and accept the unacceptable for the future of Internet access in Europe?

A campaign page1 has been set up to allow everyone to contact Members of the European Parliament and urge them to refuse any proposal from the Council allowing "three strikes" policies in Europe, and to explicitly protect EU citizens' freedom to access the Net.

Net Freedoms in Europe: Recapitulating the capitulation

Submitted on 31 Oct 2009 - 18:45

The European Parliament delegation led by Catherine Trautmann recently gave up on protecting EU citizens against arbitrary restrictions of their Internet access. In order to reach an agreement and avoid a clash with Member States, the Parliament retracted its support to the core element of notorious "amendment 138" : prior judicial decision before restrictions to access and usage of the Internet. This protection of citizens' fundamental rights against arbitrary restrictions of their Internet access came a long way. Here is a little restrospective on the "stations of the cross" of amendement 138.

(See also the rewording of amendment 138, preserving its core principles while adressing legal uncertainty, that was transmitted to MEPs last week)

An evolution of "amendment 138"

Submitted on 30 Oct 2009 - 10:17

Here is a comparison chart of the different versions of "amendment 138" along the whole co-decision procedure.







Denomination Wording of the text Quick analysis and references

Original amendment 138 voted on Sept 24th 2008

, 8.4.g of the Framework directive, tabled by Bono (PSE, FR), Cohn-Bendit (Greens, FR) and Roithova (EPP, CZ)

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